Canada has condemned the ongoing political crisis in Niger as the new junta government announces their intention to try the president for treason.
The coup government, led by General Abdourahmane Tiani, seized power on July 26, 2023, and deposed President Mohamed Bazoum before detaining him and his family. The Nigerien military soon supported the coup plotters, and a junta named National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) was formed to govern the country.
Global Affairs Canada condemned the coup, then later released a statement announcing the suspension of development assistance to the Nigerien government. In 2021-2022, the Canadian government supplied Niger with a total of $59.33 million in assistance. Canada declared the coup government a “threat to democracy and stability.”
The new junta government justified their takeover by pointing to the previous government’s handling of Islamist terrorist groups. In 2021, though Niger saw half the fatalities from 2020, the country experienced a 43 per cent increase in violent terrorist events.
Phillippe Frowd is an associate professor of political studies at University of Ottawa, with a focus on West Africa and countries in the Sahel region. He said that the jihadist insurgency is a prime concern for Nigeriens, despite claims that half the fatalities mean improvement.
“While large-scale statistics might show an improvement in conflict conditions in Niger,” Frowd said in an email to rabble. “This is not necessarily how it is experienced in communities, or by the army itself, which has its own expectations and morale.”
Frowd also said that the key to understanding the situation is knowing about Niger’s role in the politics of the region and its utility to bigger global powers.
“Niger’s crisis is the result of domestic political games which have been made more damaging by confrontation with a regional organization finding aggressive resolve against coups,” he said. “This is all against the important backdrop of a growing contestation of many Western interests in the region, which gives coup leaders potential legitimacy (domestically) and space to reorient (internationally).”
Heightened antagonisms
The regional organization in question is the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which convened an emergency summit to discuss a united response to the situation in Niger. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs the organization, stressed the goal was to reach a peaceful solution, but ultimately declared “No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort.”
ECOWAS announced an August 6 deadline to relinquish power and release the detained President before military options were implemented. Niger’s junta government refused the deadline, but military action has not yet been implemented. Niger has since put its military on alert over the threats by ECOWAS.
France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, expressed support for the ECOWAS plan of retaliation against the new government. The French foreign ministry released a statement that “the future of Niger and the stability of the entire region are at stake.”
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council in the US said the coup threatened their ability to combat terror threats. The US currently has two drone bases stationed in Niger with approximately 1,100 military personnel operating in the country.
While Frowd made it clear that ECOWAS is required to uphold “democratic norms in the region” and has the powers available to carry out this obligation, their sanctions and military warnings have been “inflammatory.”
“ECOWAS has also faced the brute facts that the Nigerien junta was resilient, sporadically popular, and able to entrench itself,” he said. “The situation remains mostly at a regional level — any claims about an outsized role of the US, France, or Russia for that matter, would overestimate the importance of foreign partners.”
The Sahel alliance
Niger has served as a military hub for many richer countries. France has approximately 1,500 troops stationed in the country, while the US operates a drone base in Agadez that works with the US’ Africa Command (AFRICOM). French troops have since faced increasing pressure to leave the country.
The EU is also applying ECOWAS’ decision to implement economic sanctions in response to the coup. Meanwhile, the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union confederation (ITUC-Africa) advised ECOWAS to reject military intervention and choose to pursue “peaceful options” to resolve the crisis.
Thousands of people took to the streets of the Nigerien capital Niamey to support the coup leaders. During the demonstration, protestors tore out a plaque at the French embassy and set fire to its door.
Neighbouring countries Burkina Faso and Mali have also supported the coup leaders, stating that any military intervention implemented against the new government would constitute a “declaration of war.” Guinea’s President Mamady Doumbouya also voiced support for the Nigerien junta and said sanctions implemented by ECOWAS would result in a “humanitarian disaster whose consequences could extend beyond the borders of Niger.” Guinea is a member of ECOWAS but has refused to apply the sanctions.
The current governments of Mali and Burkina Faso are also the results of coups that took place in 2021 and September 2022, respectively. Military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore deposed previous Burkinabe President Paul-Henri Damiba during a dispute over the mishandling of the ongoing Islamic terrorist threat which has rocked the region with violence in recent months. During Damiba’s short term as President, his government only controlled approximately 60 per cent of the country, with the remaining territory occupied by terrorist groups.
Frowd notes that these three countries being led by military governments that came to power against jihadist terror groups gives them political unity, and that leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso have dealt with similar circumstances to Niger.
“Ideologically, [they share] a willingness to speak the language of sovereignty and new (non-French/non-Western) partnerships, and practically a resistance to the regional ECOWAS bloc that is seen as intrusive in the name of restoring elected leaders,” he explained.
Decolonial sentiments in Niger
The Sahel alliance of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has utilized the rhetoric of decolonialism in their messaging. The Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, an organization that describes itself as “an international institute guided by popular movements and organisations,” published a newsletter examining the history of colonialism and neocolonialism in the area. President of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, has directly harkened back to former Burkinabè leader Thomas Sankara, who implemented policies to push back against neocolonialism in the country.
Frowd said this approach, which is usually labelled simply as “anti-French sentiment” at times, is more complex due to the area’s history.
“It is tied to a broader latent sense in many African states that more fluid and diverse international partnerships (including to Russia, China, India, Turkey, and beyond) should have greater importance and may be more favourable,” he said. “This finds expression in a number of ways, including in discourse today about sovereignty.”
While there’s misinformation and some figures may be “opportunistic,” Frowd said they speak to “real frustrations grounded in real equalities.”
Canada’s actions towards Niger align itself with similar moves by the EU, and help to bolster ECOWAS’ position, but are unlikely to singularly impact the situation, according to Frowd.
“The junta seems to be weathering such pressures for now, including very tough regional sanctions,” he said. “But it remains to be seen for how long this can continue without concessions.”
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